Industrieholding Cham AG

Not much to my visit of Industrieholding Cham, a specialty paper and materials handling company with revenues in 2001 of 1 billion Swiss Francs and 3,200 employees. The town of Cham I'd guess probably has no more than a couple thousand people and from its downtown I could spot a couple of big smokestacks less than a mile away.

Yep, I'm right about those smokestacks belonging to Industrieholding Cham. It's one of their paper factories but they've moved their head office from the plant to a brand new three-story office building several blocks away.

About 35 people work in the good-looking building but most work for the paper group, only three work for the holding company. Karin Thuerig, assistant to the controller, is one of those three. Thuerig knows nothing about the letter of introduction mailed a month earlier, her boss is on vacation and she doesn't know where Chairman Heinrich Spoerry is so, Thuerig answers my questions. There's not much to see with only her boss and Spoerry having offices here (on the first floor). As one would expect in a small town like this parking isn't a problem. Nothing special about the boardroom with the boardroom table seating 17.

I ask if it's possible to see Chairman Spoerry's office. Thuerig opens Spoerry's door only to quickly close it. Why? Unbeknownst to her Spoerry is inside working.